Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Students at Utah State University react to voyeurism case over Twitter

By
Braden Clark

Sunday
night students at Utah State University reacted to a tweet on Twitter about a recent
voyeurism arrest on their campus.

“We
have to build a wall around the Pike house if we want to end sexual assault.
Make USU safe again,” said Ben Fordham, a student at Utah State University,
over Twitter.

Fordham's
tweet was quickly favorited and retweeted by many students at Utah State, and
was responded to quickly.

"But
in all seriousness USU should look into this for the general well-being of our
women," said Andrew Redfern, a student at Utah State University, over
Twitter.

"I'll
grab a shovel," said Yusuf Mumin, a student at Utah State University, over
Twitter.

A
lot of people saw the negative side of his tweet as well, and eventually
Fordham deleted the tweet all together.

"Not
cool, you can't blame mistakes from individuals on a whole house," said
Breanna Bennett, a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority.

This
last weekend a member of Pi Kappa Alpha was arrested with voyeurism charges,
and Fordham’s tweet sparked controversy around the Logan campus, and caused
many students to share their opinion on the matter.

“The
actions of one person does not reflect an organization as a whole,” said Kenzy
Nageli, a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority. “It’s about getting the wrong
people out of the organizations, because Greek life can do some amazing things
on this campus.”

During
the fall semester the men of Pi Kappa Alpha reported the highest number of
service hours on campus with 797 hours. Pi Kappa Alpha had significantly more
hours than the runner-up HackUSU who reported 555 hours in the fall semester.

“We’ve
been extremely proud the way the men of Pike have donated their time to
service, because they’ve done some incredible work in the last few months,”
said Ricky Benitez, the Interfraternity Council public relations. “Their food
drive last semester and toy drive this semester shows how much of a positive
impact they’ve made on this campus and community.”

Just
this last week Jonny Whipple, a member of Pi Kappa Alpha, was recognized as
Greek of the Week. Whipple this spring semester has managed to donate more than
50 hours of service, and set up and orchestrate a toy drive for Primary
Children’s Hospital. The drive accumulated nearly $15,000 in money and toy
donations for the hospital.

Pi
Kappa Alpha was also awarded the “Most Improved Chapter of the Year” award at
the Utah State Greek’s Order of Omega banquet on April 13.

“I
have always felt that there are good and bad people in the Greek community at
this university,” Fordham said. “I want Pike to succeed, and I understand they
do some nice charitable things now and then, but they can’t go six months
without something like this happen to them.”

Just
over a year ago Ryan Wray, ex-USU student and ex-president of Pi Kappa Alpha,
was arrested in late March for forcible sexual abuse, a first-degree felony. In
October his charges were reduced to attempted forcible sexual abuse, a
third-degree felony.

Two
months after Wray's original arrest Brian Relopez, a member of the Sigma Chi
fraternity, was arrested and charged in a separate case with aggravated sexual
assault and rape, first-degree felonies.

“The
Greek community can do great things, but every now and then you get some stupid
people in there,” said Max Wilde, a student at Utah State University who was
Greek but later left the community. “All of the good they do can be quickly
taken away by the actions of few stupid individuals. From the outside the
Greeks can seem like a bunch of drunken idiots, but if you take time to
actually understand what they’re about they actually do a lot of good for this
school and community.”

The
men of Pi Kappa Alpha were unable to comment at this time.

Every
Monday the leaders of the Greek community meet, and discuss the status of the
Greeks at the university. No official statement has been released by them, but
a formal judicial hearing will take place in the coming weeks.

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About Me

Braden Clark is a student in the Department of Journalism and Communication Studies at Utah State University. A motivated, responsible and dynamic student, seeking new and exciting opportunities at the college level which will utilize many years of communication skills developed through involvement in many groups and organizations.

Clark reports on this site on issues that are trending in Utah social media. He can be reached at bradenclarkjournalism@gmail.com.